On Keeping Perspective

By Jack Stanovsek

Issue 4, Semester 2

Over the past couple of weeks, the pressure of clerkship applications has reared its ugly head, consuming the classrooms and study spaces of 185 Pelham Street. It began with a few innocent commiserations with fellow students about the agonising process of cover letter writing. Last week, I noticed other students inserting themselves into random conversations to gauge the opinion of their fellow colleagues. All of this is acceptable enough behaviour, given the inescapable clerkship fever that swept through the second year cohort as soon as the clock struck 11:45 am on the day of the Admin Law exam and semester one had officially finished.

Over the past couple of weeks, the pressure of clerkship applications has reared its ugly head, consuming the classrooms and study spaces of 185 Pelham Street. It began with a few innocent commiserations with fellow students about the agonising process of cover letter writing. Last week, I noticed other students inserting themselves into random conversations to gauge the opinion of their fellow colleagues. All of this is acceptable enough behaviour, given the inescapable clerkship fever that swept through the second year cohort as soon as the clock struck 11:45 am on the day of the Admin Law exam and semester one had officially finished.

This week, I’ve noticed some deeply troubling behaviour around the law building. Friendly faces turn nervous, burdened with stress and anxiety about the looming Sunday deadline. Students work on their resumes in classes, ignoring their studies completely. I’ve heard rumours of students crying and breaking down, already envisaging the prospects of rejection. Competitive spirits have come out of hibernation in a sadistic game where everyone loses.

This is an opportune moment to reiterate to everyone the importance of taking a step back from clerkships and keeping perspective, both professionally and personally.

Professionally, we need to ascribe clerkships appropriate weight, as only one career pathway of many. We’ve all heard the faculty strongly emphasise that clerkships are not the be-all and end-all of your legal career. I still feel this statement is problematic as it relegates alternatives to clerkships as a second choice: a fall back if everything else goes wrong. In truth, clerkships are only one option for young law graduates.

Some truly superb lawyers never got clerkships. A prime example is Sarah Keating, a criminal law barrister who was a recent panellist on the LSS’ “Beyond Law School” panel. She shared that her grades and CV were entirely average at law school, and applying to Leo Cussen at her own expense was the best she could do. She’s now well-regarded as a phenomenal criminal law barrister, consistently receiving top recognition from several prominent legal publications. Her story is by no means unusual on our careers panels. Clerkships are not the end of the road, and indeed for some students they may even be unnecessary to get them where they want to go. I implore you to consider options outside of the traditional clerking process. To get you started, there are plenty of graduate programs with government that will pay for your PLT. Ethicaljobs.com.au is also a fantastic port of call for incredibly fulfilling positions.
A sole focus by students on clerkships also becomes complicated when considering the relatively narrow commercial focus these firms demand. Many students express a great deal of interest in pursuing a career in some form of social justice. Simultaneously, they apply to “top-tier” (whatever that means) firms that represent clients antithetical to their true beliefs. We need to keep in mind that the primary aim of these firms is to make money, hand over fist. They often represent clients that are diametrically opposed to key social justice causes, and they do it extremely well. If you want to use a commercial clerkship and graduate position for training, I implore you set a clear timeline for your career to stay true to your original motivations for entering the legal profession. Keeping perspective over the next two months involves critically examining your motivations, and being courageous enough to recognise that alternatives might be a more appropriate fit.
In a personal sense, we need to acknowledge that most of us are in an incredibly privileged position in a degree that opens many more doors than it shuts. This is true for some at Melbourne Law School more than others. I would endeavour to say that the majority of students are strongly supported by their families, both emotionally and financially. Try some blue-sky thinking: the worst that can happen is that you’ll receive rejections, and that’s okay! You’ll likely have the support systems in place to help you get back on your feet and try again.

More fundamentally, we should measure our self-worth by the quality of the relationships we have with our loved ones and our communities, not by the law firm we want to work for. The clerkship process is certainly gruesome, but let’s not lose sight of the aspects of life that we know make us happy. Bern Toohey recently shared a commendable article about the growing acknowledgment of the importance of mental health in the legal profession. Over the next two months, we need to be kind to, and sensitive of, one another. I urge you to keep perspective about the things that truly matter, and the rest will almost certainly fall into place.

Jack Stanovsek is a second year JD student and the Public Interest Careers Officer of the LSS